Jerry Brown was a star at Vashon High School before moving onto the University of Illinous and eventually the NFL. / Matthew Emmons, USA TODAY Sports

by Robert Klemko, USA TODAY Sports

by Robert Klemko, USA TODAY Sports

The high school football coach of Jerry Brown says the St. Louis community where Brown grew up is still "in disbelief" over his passing as a result of a Saturday morning car wreck.

Brown, a 25-year-old practice squad defensive end for the Dallas Cowboys, died after the car he was riding in wrecked and flipped on Texas State Highway 114, then caught fire. The driver, Cowboys teammate Josh Brent, has been charged with intoxication manslaughter.

Reginald Ferguson has been the Vashon High School head football coach for 10 years and remembers Brown as a positive influence on his peers.

"Jerry's attitude was always good for the team," Ferguson said Sunday. "He was always very positive for the program and very positive for his teammates. Just a good person. Everybody was rooting for him. Everyone looked forward to seeing him play in the NFL."

Ferguson said the high schooler who refused to dwell on losses hadn't changed much in adulthood.

"He had natural leadership about him," Ferguson said of Brown, a four-year varsity starter at Vashon. "If we happened to lose the game he'd come and say, 'Hey coach, how about we do this, that and the other next week?' He wasn't worried about the loss or anything like that. That wasn't his concern because he knew that we could do things better. That's what I loved about him."

Brown graduated from Vashon in 2006, winning three St. Louis Public High League titles and three Missouri district championships before attending the University of Illinois. Brown had stints with two Arena League teams and one CFL team before signing with the Indianapolis Colts this season. He was later cut and picked up by Dallas.

When Brown signed with the Colts, he called Ferguson to tell him the good news.

"When he made that leap from Arena to NFL everybody was excited and quite proud of him," Ferguson said. "He was very excited -- very excited. That was a big thing for him, and he wanted me to know, and I was really delighted that he kept me in mind. He felt like with all the trials and all the different places he'd been, he was getting this opportunity, and he was looking forward to making good on the opportunity. That's Jerry. You never heard him down. He was always positive."

Ferguson said the manner in which Brown died, and the controversy surrounding the death, have little bearing on his memory of him.

"Details like that, I just dealt with it from the standpoint of, he's gone," Ferguson said.